Horners Half Term Report on RBR

By PitBulls
April 7 2006

Okay you lot, stand up straight at the back and no talking: for your delight and delectation and at great expense, we bring you our leader, Christian Horner, who will review the season so far, now that one sixth of it is behind us.

"Asked to give the team, a mark out of ten for performance so far, I think I would go for a Six. We can see the car has good underlying pace and potential. Our pre-season testing was compromised by cooling and reliability issues, which meant we were not as prepared as we would have liked going into these first three races. So, Bahrain surprised everyone as we looked quite competitive, qualified in the top ten with Christian and came away with a point. We looked even more competitive in Malaysia and again qualified in the top ten, almost getting David in there as well. Unfortunately, both cars suffered mechanical problems and but for them we would have picked up some decent points. Then, in Melbourne, after a good test in Europe, David definitely felt more comfortable in the car. We probably weren't on the best tyre compound selected pre-season for that event. It was a frustrating race because after a good start, David got taken out by Trulli which dropped him to the back of the field and Christian got walloped by Massa. Ultimately we got a point out of it, but the potential was there for much more.

At the moment, the key thing lies in the potential of the car and the fact the drivers are gaining confidence with every test and race. David in particular is much happier with the characteristics of the car and, as we head back to Europe and continue to develop the package, I think we will evolve and move forward.

This year, we introduced 22 key personnel over the winter, including Adrian Newey, a virtually all-new race engineering crew, a new team manager, chief mechanic and of course we have a new engine and with it new electronics. We have evolved more over the winter than any other team. There are some very talented individuals on board and now they are just starting to work collectively as a group and as a team. The full benefits of this won't be realised until 2007, but we will see a gradual evolution of this year's car. Last year we were flattered by a good start to the season, followed by a mediocre run of races in Europe, regaining ground at the back end of the year. Now, my expectation is that we will continue to improve throughout the European season. We are on the scoreboard, we had the potential to score a lot more points and we just have to keep moving forward. With Red Bull Racing only having been in F1 for eighteen months, what we have achieved is not insignificant.

Inevitably, people's expectations are higher now and I think that when Adrian Newey joined there were expectations that he'd sprinkle some Magic Dust on the car and it would suddenly become a race winner. But there is no magic in this industry: it's all about the people and the resources they have.

As for the drivers, David continues to lead the team very well. He suffered the bulk of reliability problems through pre-season testing, but he is now getting into his stride. As for Christian, he seems to have mastered qualifying and driven some impressive laps and is working hard on his race pace. In his third season, he is no longer the rookie or the new boy and as a pairing they are working pretty well at the moment. And Robert Doornbos is contributing well in the third car."